VELVET REVOLVER's MCKAGAN Comments On LENNY KRAVITZ Rumors

Ernest A. Jasmin of TheNewsTribune.com recently conducted an interview with VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff McKagan. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

TheNewsTribune.com: For starters, there have been headlines for the past couple of months related to why you have more time to spend with [Duff's other band] LOADED.

Duff: Yeah, I mean, we kind of knew back in even last August when ALICE (IN CHAINS) came out and was opening for us on that tour. That's when we first started to really know this isn't going to work out with [now-former VELVET REVOLVER singer] Scott [Weiland]. But we went through the thing, hoping it was going to get better — you know, really tried to work with Scott and help him out and get back on the right path. But he kept going left, and we were going right. So that's really it.

TheNewsTribune.com: LOADED was formed pre-VELVET REVOLVER. But was it something that you wanted to take to the level of GUNS N' ROSES?

Duff: The music business is pretty cutthroat. It's pretty gross, really, to tell you the truth. My experience in the music business and with record companies and so forth is pretty poor. It's not a place where there's a lot of integrity. I try to guard LOADED (from) all of that stuff. Let's go play some live gigs; let's go have a good time, try to get as many people to the gigs as we can within reason. You know, nobody really knows who we are.

TheNewsTribune.com: Do people recognize you from your other gigs?

Duff: I think at this point in my career, people know who I am. I don't know if that's gonna pull 'em to come see us play. But it's like, "Oh, yeah, there's Duff. He's with VELVET REVOLVER. He was in GUNS N' ROSES like 20 years ago." (Laughs) If nothing else, I'd like to be recognized, anyhow, as a guy who (has) never really sold out. I've always just kind of done things because I mean it, you know. VELVET REVOLVER was something I wanted to do because I wanted to play. I think it was important that (GUNS N' ROSES guitarist) Slash and I played again. And it was this musical arena that we hadn't explored. He and I can explore music for the rest of our lives and still not really scratch the surface of what we're really capable of. That's something that's important to me. And it's always been about the music and not about the dollar, you know, or the chicks or whatever.

TheNewsTribune.com: I've seen a few rumors about who's in the running [for the VELVET REVOLVER singer slot]. Last I read it was supposedly Lenny Kravitz.

Duff: Yeah, I guess that was reported that he was our new singer, which is surprising to me. I got sent a ton of links yesterday by our management. And they were all from The New York Post; you know, the Sun in the U.K., reporting that he's our new singer. I don't know where people get all this (stuff).

TheNewsTribune.com: You know, I could almost see that workin'.

Duff: Well, I think that would be killer. That guy's a true musician. I've known that guy for 20 years. That would be great. But I'm not sure if Lenny knows about it. We didn't know about it. We'll find a guy.

You can hear clips of the interview, including what McKagan said about the possibility of Chris Cornell joining the band, on Bring the Noise.